Geek Speak 104.5: Game of Thrones Season 7 Spoilercast

This podcast is dark and full of terrors for those who are not caught up with season 7 of Game of Thrones!

But if you are up to date, you are welcome to climb the ladder of the chaos that is Alex‘s, Jo‘s and Diarmuid‘s opinions on this season. We talk about our faves, try to understand weirwood.net and ramble about plot points and time jumps. Hope you enjoy!

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Comments

I agree with what was said on the episode, especially about Sansa and Arya. There seemed to be at least a few scenes missing in between Arya’s arrival at Winterfell and the trial scene. The last scene with them felt kind of hollow as it made it seem like the ice was just beginning to break, whereas I thought there would have been a lot of conversations that had to go on before deciding Lord Baelish’s fate. I understand that the showrunners wanted to keep the execution a surprise, but in doing so, they made it a lot less organic to the show. I guess in Stark 2.0, who passes the sentence does not swing the sword.

Probably because of the limited time left, it seemed some shortcuts had to be taken. It’s a good thing that the Night King had those chains to pull Viserion’s body out of the water. I wonder if he knew he’d get one, because what was the strategy to get past the Wall then? And something that was talked about over seven seasons as the protection of Westeros gets bypassed in a matter of minutes.

That said, they (showrunners) really played with the audience in Beyond the Wall. After giving Tormund some of the best lines in the episode, they put in that tug of war on the ice.

One of the joys of the series is the supporting actors who really nail their roles: Ser Davos when he announces John Snow, Samwell Tarly’s facial reactions to Bran as they discuss Jon’s parentage, etc.

And speaking of character interactions, one of my favorites at the big summit in the Dragonpit was how characters on opposing sides said they were glad the other was still alive.

One interaction that seemed largely missing (as was the character himself) was Lord Varys. I missed his and Tyrion’s discussions from previous seasons.

The Q?! said
Ha! I knew Dia would love the Irish guy. Two spuds in a pot they are.

Nah, but Aiden Gillien is great though.

Unflushable said
Best line – “I don’t believe you”

When was that?

stingo said

Question: Who is the Lightbringer?

Complicated question… Does Lightbringer even exist in show-verse? There is a theory on reddit that I really like. It brings together Lightbringer, Azora Ahai and the ending of the series. I can look for that post if you are not too worried about speculation spoilers (potentially).

Complicated question… Does Lightbringer even exist in show-verse? There is a theory on reddit that I really like. It brings together Lightbringer, Azora Ahai and the ending of the series. I can look for that post if you are not too worried about speculation spoilers (potentially).

Yes. Melisandre thought Stannis was the Lightbringer, and now I think she thinks it’s Jon Snow.

One of my speculations is that…

[spoiler]Season 8 will start some years after the end of Season 7. This will give Jon and Dany’s child to grow and become the Lightbringer, being the fusion of ice and fire. Also, I don’t see any hints of spring coming in the episodes that are left otherwise since seasons supposedly last a long time. [/spoiler]

I really dislike this season, to much convenient happenstance for me (speedy travel, ice breakage/dragon death, so on and so on) , too often falling into classic fantasy troupes which the show become acclaimed for breaking. It almost shows they do no have any great source Material to troll for great ideas, all the throw backs to previous seasons (which are the better scenes) have said source material to work with.

And yes the side characters interaction are still good, but again I will be shitty about this season, it’s nothing new for establishing characters.

StealthyJoe said
I really dislike this season, to much convenient happenstance for me (speedy travel, ice breakage/dragon death, so on and so on) , too often falling into classic fantasy troupes which the show become acclaimed for breaking. It almost shows they do no have any great source Material to troll for great ideas, all the throw backs to previous seasons (which are the better scenes) have said source material to work with.

And yes the side characters interaction are still good, but again I will be shitty about this season, it’s nothing new for establishing characters.

Agree with everything you said. Someone did point out something to me, which I think is important to take into account. When D&D signed up to do Game of Thrones, it was an adaptation job. I think we can all agree, that they were really good at adapting, even adding and correcting when they needed to. I loved all those additional Robert and Cersei scenes in season 1. However, ever since they have over taken the books, the job has become about writing and creating. Yes, GRRM would have talked to them about hitting some important story points (like Hodor, etc), but otherwise, they had to create on their own. Adapting and creating are very different hats, and no wonder they are not as good as GRRM at writing. No matter what you think about GRRM, you can’t say that he is not an excellent writer and world-builder, maybe the best one out there. So, it is tough for D&D, really tough. But while I understand why, it doesn’t make me like this season anymore.

stingo said

Yes. Melisandre thought Stannis was the Lightbringer, and now I think she thinks it’s Jon Snow.

I though Lightbringer was the sword, whereas Azora Ahai is the person?

Agree with everything you said. Someone did point out something to me, which I think is important to take into account. When D&D signed up to do Game of Thrones, it was an adaptation job. I think we can all agree, that they were really good at adapting, even adding and correcting when they needed to. I loved all those additional Robert and Cersei scenes in season 1. However, ever since they have over taken the books, the job has become about writing and creating. Yes, GRRM would have talked to them about hitting some important story points (like Hodor, etc), but otherwise, they had to create on their own. Adapting and creating are very different hats, and no wonder they are not as good as GRRM at writing. No matter what you think about GRRM, you can’t say that he is not an excellent writer and world-builder, maybe the best one out there. So, it is tough for D&D, really tough. But while I understand why, it doesn’t make me like this season anymore.

Yes I agree, or might be a case of switching from an adaptive process to a creative process, which is not what the originally signed up for. Still left me frustrated and annoyed but loving is all the same.

Yes I agree, or might be a case of switching from an adaptive process to a creative process, which is not what the originally signed up for. Still left me frustrated and annoyed but loving is all the same.

I often criticise the things I love the most lol.

Oh, yes! I still love the show, characters, and Universe. I really don’t understand people who feel too precious about things they love and ignore even a possibility of criticism. One of my favourite Game Of Thrones podcasts – Storm of Spoilers – got a lot of flack from their fans because the hosts criticised the show. The hosts still love the show, but instead of just re-describing the scenes on their podcast (which most Game of Thrones podcast do, and why they are rubbish), they were analytical and critical. I loved that about their podcast.

stingo said
@alex Apparently I conflated the two. You are correct.

Here is the link to the Reddit theory on how the story will end. Obviously, read at your own discretion. Personally, I like it a lot and think it might actually be true. If you think this might spoil your enjoyment of Game of Thrones, don’t read it.

@alex I think I might listen to that podcast, storm of spoilers, the idea is in capsulated by this quote “I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually” James A. Baldwin. The reason I criticise is to improve.

@stingo yeah they might not know what those kinds of interactions between side characters might be. Having an end point in the story and what the overall story arc might be gives them indication of what interaction the main characters might have and from there infer their conversations but I feel they are missing a lot of the smaller details without grrm.

StealthyJoe said
@alex I think I might listen to that podcast, storm of spoilers, the idea is in capsulated by this quote “I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually” James A. Baldwin. The reason I criticise is to improve.

It is a great show. A warning before you listen, they do discuss spoilers (including production), but they have a non-spoiler section called ‘calm’ and a full on spoiler section called ‘storm’, the latter can be avoided.

@alex I am okay with spoilers in general and not mind talking about the production and theories, I just don’t need at podcast telling me what happened in the show of a couple of of beat reactions like “oh my God that is so cool…” I really need some discussion about it lol.

StealthyJoe said
@alex I am okay with spoilers in general and not mind talking about the production and theories, I just don’t need at podcast telling me what happened in the show of a couple of of beat reactions like “oh my God that is so cool…” I really need some discussion about it lol.

Vocal opposition to Mass Effect 3's ending is making the gaming community look like a laughing stock to people who have more important things to worry about than the conclusion of Shepard's three-game story.